Today

Just another freezing cold day in Japan. We had a couple of awesome days earlier this week - a real taste of Spring - but now we're back to Winter weather; about 8 degrees max today.

Found an interesting article about food matching. Apparently mixing certain types of food together helps enhance the nutritional qualities rather than if they're eaten separately.
For example, "Turmeric contains an antioxidant called curcumin which has been linked to a lower risk of some cancers and Alzheimers'disease. Adding black pepper - which many cooks do intuitively in curries and other spicey dishes - may boost curcumin absorption,"

I think I'll be trying out some of these ideas. It's just a shame that in order to fulfil the new menu, I'd have to double the food budget!

Oslo is now the world's most expensive city. Tokyo and Osaka/Kobe have been pushed out of the top 5 thanks to the weak yen linked with stable prices and the strong performing European currencies coupled with increasing prices. To look at the survey data requires you to pay though, so I couldn't check out other cities other than the ones quoted in the article.

Now I'd love to go to Europe for a holiday sometime in the next while. Wouldn't we all?! The article suggests, "Consider the cheaper European capitals of Greece (Athens tied at No. 55), the Czech Republic (Prague tied at No. 55), Portugal (Lisbon at No. 59), and Poland (Warsaw at No. 63)." Done.

Finally, for your dose of pop culture, here are the 9 laws of physics that don't apply in Hollywood, a critique of modern pop music as written by Robert De Niro, and why Kanye West is a twit.

Enjoy.